Tax Inspectors Without Borders

Last Updated on February 15, 2019 by Bharat Saini

Signing of Terms of Reference (TOR) governing engagement of designated Indian Expert to provide tax assistance to Swaziland (now known as ESwatini) under Tax Inspectors Without Borders Programme between India and ESwatini was approved by theUnion Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 10 January 2019.

• An Indian Expert has been mutually selected by Government of India and Government of Kingdom of Eswatini under TIWB programme.
• TOR will formalize conditions of engagement of designated Indian Expert to provide tax assistance to Eswatini under TIWB Programme.
• Engagement of the Indian Expert under TiWB programme will give impetus to India’s support in capacity building in tax matters in developing countries.

Swaziland King Mswati IIIhad renamed country ‘the Kingdom of eSwatini’on 18 April 2018 during celebrations for the 50^thanniversary of Swazi independence. The celebrations also marked the king’s 50th birthday.He explained that the name had caused some confusion, saying: “Whenever we go abroad, people refer to us as Switzerland.”The new name, eSwatini, means “land of the Swazis”.

Tax Inspectors Without Borders (TIWB) is a joint initiative of Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)intended to support developing countries to strengthen national tax administrations through building audit capacity and to share this knowledge with other countries:

• OECDand UNDPjoined forces to extend Global reach of TIWB and to scale-up operations.
• Partnership was launched at the Third Financing for Development conference in Addis Ababa on 13 July 2015 and was welcomed by stakeholders from business, civil society, as well as OECD and developing country governments attending the conference.
• Initiative was widely hailed as capable of assisting developing countries mobilize much-needed domestic revenues in support of the post-2015 Sustainable Development Agenda.
• TIWB Initiative facilitates targeted, tax audit assistance programmes in developing countries across the globe.
• TIWB Initiative is a strong response to the attention given to effective and efficient mobilisation of domestic resources in achieving Sustainable Development Goals and commitments made by international community in Addis Ababa to strengthen international tax co-operation.‌
• TIWBis sending expert tax auditors to assistance-requesting host administrations in order to build audit capacity around the world!
• TIWB Programme aims to strengthen tax administrations of developing countries by transferring technical know-how and skills to their tax auditors, and through the sharing of general audit practices and dissemination of knowledge products with them.
• TIWB Programmes complement broader efforts of international community to strengthen co-operation on tax matters and contribute to the domestic resource mobilisation efforts of developing countries.
• India has been supportive in capacity building in tax matters in developing countries.
• India being a global leader in this respect has a very important role to play in South-South Cooperation in tax matters.

The importance of a fair, efficient and effective tax system is clear. Domestic tax revenues are the largest and most important source of financing for sustainable development. Tax revenues can reduce poverty, increase equity, provide essential public goods such as education and health, correct market failures, and generate economic growth and better opportunities for all. The success of a TIWB Programme is reliant on the participation of all key stakeholders including Host Administrations, Experts, Partner Administrations and global Donor Partners.